What? Wwwwwhat?
I'm sorry, but this is just wrong. Opinions are subjective, but this is still wrong.
97% is for Killing Joke, Sin City, Kraven Last Hunt. Archie #234 if you really insist on giving so high praise to Sonic issue.
Not for another generic IDW issue. Art, dialogue, story, nothing deserves near-perfect score!
...well, might as well tell rest of my though, ignoring how reduntat it will be
Sonic #15
The only twist is something I knew for months now. (Would it kill you people to spoiler box stuff things we learn from previews? Would it??)
Sigh, let's try find SOMETHING positive....do you remembers first issues of Archie Sonic? When Manak draw Eggman with a constant toothy grin?
Anyone's getting nostalgic?

Dumb question: Why do you people even read those previews?
In your impatience to get something that you'll read full anyway you just hinder your own experience and often mine.
Well, I guess 06 really didn't happened.

Ah, Sonic-Fandom-Self-Hate-Topic *take a shoot* I was this close to getting sober.
Many reasons, but for starters:
1 New bad things don't erase old good things from reality
2 Sonic Mania, IDW, even that Overdrive cartoon. Let's not go this "bu-hu everything about Sonic is terrible" routine, it's getting old.

Hat in Time and Cuphead were big hit, despite not having any ties to well-known franchise.
Sonic friends as a non-iconic character of iconic franchise would apparently be in worse position to do the same thing. even ignoring Sega's incompetency with Sonic.
We live in a stupid world. Maybe Sega should make a game about people wearing masks and if it gets positive review, reveal they were Sonic friends all along, ala Metroid 1? I'm only half joking here.

I guess he's niche if you compare to more popular genres, like RPG (Skyrim, Final Fantasy), or shooters (Call fo Duty, Resident Evil) and of course Sandbox (GTA, Minecraft).
But as far as platformers and mascots go? Popularity wise he's still at the top 5. He's too old, with too many games and surprising amount of spin-offs (cartoons, comic) to ignore.
Honestly, his fandom is probably why he still makes money, despite me less-than stellar games. Crash was put in coma for less than Rise of Lyric.
I mean look, https://www.fanfiction.net/game/ Of all video game franchises, Sonic is 4th in terms of fanfics, and Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon are kinda cheating. It doesnt' translate 1:1 to popularity (I'm sure Uncharted fans are less eager to writing fics), but gives some impressions regardless.

No, because what I said in Blaze topic
The only way Shadow gets another shoot if Sonic produces a spiritual successor to Adventure games which will be actually good and heavily involve Shadow.
But to indulge imagination I think I go with something like this:
- Keep him working with GUN, but with their minimal involvement (like Galactic Federation in most Metroid). Maybe give him one Mobian officer to give missions. Or if we want more details, create a sub-group to GUN (how about BULLET?...ok, definitely not) and they all mobians.
- Villains should be Infinite/Mephiles/Cthulhu kinda of dudes, a magical evil bastards.
- Basically I would mesh Devil May Cry (lightened up) with cheesy "are you bad enough dude to save president daughter?" type of movies. Avoid drama at first, sell Shadow as this badass action hero that fight demons and stuff.
- Now, some actual drama and characterization can come later into the game, surprising you with idea that Shadow actually has more than constant frown on his face. And for chaos sake, stories should NOT be about Maria & Gerald, it's time to move on.
- Keep Rouge and Omega, obviously.
- Gameplay could stay Sonic, but considering Shadow's numerous powers I would rather make a Bayonetta/DMC spectacle fighter.
Alternatively I would consider Metroidvania, with less "gun blazing action" and more "Shadow is sent to Castle Dracula Planet Zebes mysterious evil place to learn it's lore and stop some eldritch evil"

"Reckoning" is kinda fun, but has this old problem of "build up without pay-off". As a comic-making exercise, I call it success, as a story I call it 'meh'.
"Dimitri's Log" is somewhat straightforwards. Dimitri realizing he's done bad isn't anything new honestly. And the last joke is both weird and detrimental to the story.
"Protegegg" on the other hand is great. Unique take on Eggette and wonderfully psychotic Eggman make for short but absolutely satisfying story.

Good point. This is a thought exercise for fun, not a strategic plan for a pitch we're about to send to Sega or make game yourself (although if one of us happened to be Sega executive, he could let us know. Just saying)
So here's how I would try to make game "Blaze: Flame of Seven Seas"
Gameplay
Sticking to Sonic style would be detrimental to character. Just like Luigi Mansion, it's better to focus on character strength. So my suggestion would be "Zelda: Wind Waker" with focus on "fire vs water" mechanics. Blaze fire is her main weapon, but she lives in archipelago. Big part of the challenge would be avoiding water, which could be also part of puzzles. Imagine boiling water to make a cloud that Blaze can bounce off, stuff like this.
Blaze could have her own ship to travel with some customization. Maybe she would power it with her own flames (or at least fire cannons) and perhaps she could have own Crew that you can recruit on her adventures. Story
I would keep Marine as one of early NPCs, but not someone who sticks with you for whole adventure. Or like I suggested with a Crew, give player a choice of keeping her around and listening to her adorable rambling or deciding you leave her on first island and never look back. Pirates will work as nice goons to fight.
World building I would establish Sol Dimension as world of rules. Sonic is all about freedom, Blaze's world is about strict rules, traditions and purity. While Sonic animals live among each other, this world believes in segregation, cats believing they better than foxes, etc (with Koalas and Marine being rebels to this world of rules). It would fit nicely with how Blaze started and where her arc is taking her. She would be "Avatar (Aang/Korra)" trying to unite people and fight old ways (again, Crew mechanic would serve this purpose greatly).
Main villain should NOT be Eggman Nega. We need a enemy who's foil to Blaze and Nega doesn't do that. How about her old teacher, disappointed that she abandoned a "proper way of thinking"? Or a demons who feed on bad emotions, liking a bad state her world is but also feeding on Blaze hot-headness. Maybe a rival who beliefs Blaze shouldn't be Guardian of Sol Emeralds. Or sassy thief who constantly makes fun of her seriousness. Either way, the person doesn't have to have a direct connection to Blaze (Sonic/Eggman had zero before Sonic 1), but he must play-off her in interesting way.
Connections to Sonic World
Overall game wouldn't need them, but simplest ideas
- Big can be a gag. We don't even need to explain how he got here, that's part of the fun. Same for Sticks.
- Rouge could steal jewelry as side mission or side-mechanic. It would be nice change for her, be a thief again.
- Sonic, Knuckles, Silver or Shadow could eventually be part of side-mission or hidden boss, something like that. Nothing to big, it's Blaze's game.
- Chaos. Of all Sonic's lore, a water monster with connection to magical stones would be a best choice. He could just be a boss fight (someone is controlling him with magical item or something), but there are more creative ways.
- If we really want ties to Sonic to be strong (which is absolutely optional) some characters could bee a Crew Members. Team Rose, Rouge, Babylon Rouges, Sticks and with some imagination Omega and Chaos could be fun additions to a Crew, without stealing too much spotlight from Blaze. (like Omega is extra cannon that you don't need to power yourself. Cream keeps the morals of the Crew up, making your boat faster. Sticks paranoia and 4wall-breaks makes her a perfect person to foretop and Marine can fix engines, making your boat stronger, etc).

Nonononononono
Those are good arguments, but they don't change the fact that he was called Eggman for last 20 years.
What's might be Sonic's biggest problem is his inability to pick direction and sticking to his guns. So after 20 years of hammering "eggman" into our heads, just going back to Robotnik would be further proof franchise's indecision which would continue to split the fandom over most trivial details.

Here's a thing: when you think about them in a void, most of Sonic characters could hold their own.
Chaotix could have a comedy detective adventure Sam & Max or spoofs on crime movies ala Sly Cooper.
Knuckles could travel the world looking for treasure like Megaman Legends with Breath of the Wild gliding/climbing mechanics.
Shadow could... well I would buy a Devil May Cry mixed with Sonic feel, but I'm afraid world isn't ready.
The points is that in THEORY the answer with most of the guys is yes. But when you think about characters in a context of Sonic, no Sonic friend is getting a game anytime soon. That ship sailed in 2005 and they meet iceberg in 2006. You'll be lucky if Blaze gets playable role in any platformers in next decade.
Lastly, Blaze is fairly popular, but her world isn't. Her 'supportive cast' ranges from being neural (pirates, coalas) to negative (Nega, Marine) in general opinion.

We're back to mourning FF again?
Look people, it's a cold logic. IDW could
1 Try to recreate Archie as closely as possible, but without 300+ issues of baggage just come out as inferior (plus repetitive after Archie Reboot), thus loosing part of old audience and attracting fewer new ones.
2 Go with "game world", most logical route, yet not taken so far by any Sonic comic or cartoon, thus attracting widest audience possible.
And "proper send-off" would be most cruel thing they could do. Right now there is a chance for they come back in the future. But saying "goodbye" would strongly imply killing them for good, not to mention confuse all the new readers.
Huh, okay. I honestly never knew. I meet people who hate Flynn, but they seemed to hate comic overall.

Artificially splitting franchise into third branch is not good way to find identity.
It causes chaos, confusion and disappointments in regards of comic where some elements are restricted.
Just make games one at the time, each leaning to direction developer feels is most fitting, without putting pointless restrictions.